Temporary Brother
by Strayedwolf94
Summary: What happened between Gou and Sousuke when Rin left for Australia. One-shot.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Free!.**

It had been 3 months since Rin stopped sending letters, and a year since Rin left for Australia. Sousuke was worried but he had to focus on his own goal, to one day be able to swim with Rin again.

The school had just been let out and he is on his way home to change and go to Sano Swimming Club to train again. Summer break had just ended but he can't stop even for a moment, if he stops he won't be able to reach his dream. But as he neared the school gate he saw the indistinguishable red hair, but it didn't belong to a boy, it belonged to a girl.

'Gou? Oh right, she's a freshman now.' Sousuke smiled and called out to her.

"Gou!"

Gou turned and Sousuke could see that she was sad but a smile quickly replaced that when she saw him.

"Sousuke-kun! It's so nice to see you again! And it's Kou!"

"What? No it's not."

"I'm in middle school now, I want people to call me Kou. Gou sounds like a boy."

"Nah, don't like it. You going home now?"

"Mouuu, Sousuke-kun." Gou sighed, "Yeah, I'm going home now."

"I'll walk you home." And started leading the way, he knows where her house is their houses isn't that far away from each other, just a few blocks away from his own.

"Eh?! You don't have to Sousuke-kun! Don't you have swimming practice?"

"I have time. And I'm sure Rin would like that someone is accompanying you home."

When Sousuke said Rin's name he saw the sadness that left Gou earlier return but she tried to mask it.

"Arigatou Sousuke-kun."

They were silent for a few minutes before Sousuke opened his mouth.

"I stopped receiving Rin's letter 3 months ago." Sousuke knew that that was not how to make small talk, knew that those words shouldn't have slipped out of his mouth. But he wants to know, _needs_ to confirm if he was the only one that doesn't receive letters anymore. Selfish? Yes. He can guess that Rin also stopped sending letters for Gou to be unhappy but logically he thinks it is all right to talk to Gou about it, she is Rin's sister, aside from their mother, she is the only one Sosuke can ask.

Silence. Sousuke looked at Gou and saw that she was looking at the ground wearing a forlorn look, mind probably far away. They were just passing by a park and he knew there was an ice cream stand here that Rin would always take Gou to, he joined them sometimes.

He immediately turned left and entered the park.

"Wha-?!" Gou suddenly woke up by Sosuke's sudden movement and saw that Sousuke was already quite far and she hustled to keep up.

* * *

><p>"One vanilla and one strawberry please. Thank you."<p>

After getting the sundaes he went to where he left Gou sitting on a bench. Handing the strawberry one to her. She always order the strawberry, and he and Rin would always order vanilla.

"Arigatou Sousuke-kun."

As they ate their sundae in silence, Sousuke didn't say anything, he knows Gou wants to say something and he has to wait until Gou is ready.

"Onii-san stopped sending me letters 5 months ago."

'What?' Sousuke thought and turned to Gou with a surprised look.

"Personal letters I guess you can say, he still sends a letter to mom once a month. But when he first went there it seemed like he sent us both letters twice a week, then it turned once a week, then soon it dwindled down until it was only mom he sends letters to. But he sent me a post card on my birthday. I guess it counts as a letter so I guess you can say he stopped sending me letters 4 months ago."

"Gou-" but Sousuke was cut off when Gou suddenly wailed.

"I miss my Onii-san! I want my Onii-san! Why doesn't Onii-san like me anymore?!" With tears running down her face and her trembling hands holding her ice cream, Sousuke took his hankerchief from his right pocket and attempted to wipe her tears off.

"Shhh, shhh, Gou, it's okay, shhh, Gou I'm sure Rin doesn't dislike you, he loves you very much, Its just… It must be because he's busy. I know it's hard but we should support Rin. He has a dream he wants to achieve. We can't be selfish and hold him back. Come on Gou-chan, calm down, your ice cream is melting."

Rubbing her back to help her calm down when she shakily took the handkerchief from his hand and started to clean her face.

"Go-gomen, I- I just miss him a lot… And… And I don't know. I really didn't want him to go you know, but I knew it meant a lot to him so I kept silent, I also thought as long as I can talk to him it will be alright. But he stopped writing back and I still send him letters and I don't know if I should stop."

"Don't."

"Huh? You think so?"

"I know Rin, he might not reply but I'm sure he appreciates your letters."

A part of Gou doesn't believe him, but he's older and the best friend of her Onii-san. So she will believe in him. He's like another Onii-san too. He walked her home, he bought her ice cream, and he comforted her when she cried.

'Another Onii-san? Sousuke-nii-san.' Gou mulled the name in her head as they finish their ice cream.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Will you be my Onii-san?"

"What?"

"I'll call you Sousuke-nii-san."

Sousuke only took a moment to decide.

"Sure. I'll be your Onii-san but only until the end of junior high." Sousuke agreed with a smile. Sousuke knows they can't replace her onii-san but if it will bring comfort to Gou for a while then he can live with it. There was no harm to be someone's temporary brother. And he did wished to have a sibling when he was younger and saw Rin playing with Gou, it's a win-win situation.

"Arigatou Sousuke-nii-san!"

"Let's go home then."

Standing up and giving his arm for Gou to intertwine her hand with, they started to walk home. He might be late for practice but Sousuke decided that it was worth it, to see Gou – no, his temporary little sister- happy was definitely worth it.

"Ne, Gou, do you need help with your homework?"

* * *

><p>AN: I just really like the idea of how Sosuke and Gou's relationship went when Rin left for Australia. They seemed close in the anime when they met again. The story isn't polished but I just started with the idea and started to write it. I'm not a really good writer but I decided this is good practice, I just have a hard time writing down my ideas but I hope you guys like it!<p>

Sorry I uploaded it again, I forgot how the spacing and such worked here in FF.


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